Matrix Young Justice
by EpicMan58
Summary: An alternate universe Ben 10 arrived in the Justice League universe. Now his sidekick Claw is about to learn what being a real hero is.
1. The Beginning

The Beginning of Legion

**Ben's Ship.**

Ben frowned. His alien ship the Endeavour was now cloaked and floating above Earth. Except he wasn't sure if it was his Earth or not. The hyper-drive had malfunctioned during the travel and he had been taken here. The eighteen year old was lost.

For starters Bellwood didn't exist. Neither did the Plumbers. Ben found this out when he sent a signal to them but nothing came back. Currently Ben had Merlin, his own personal galvanic mechamoprh which was slightly different to others of its kind. It was highly intelligent, not weak to the common weaknesses of its people.

"Merlin?"

"Ben," came Merlin's voice. "I have reviewed the data, it seems as if we have fallen into an alternate universe."

"Damn."

"It also seems that this Earth does not have any version of the plumbers too."

"Damn."

"And it has been visited by alien species as well, some of which live on this planet." Merlin hopped off the computer forming a tall figure and leaving the cloaking on.

"K."

Ben sighed. He knew stealth and martial arts and he had the Ultimatrix unlocked with Master Control. He might as well get down and do recon on its inhabitants. He spoke. "Ultimatrix unlock body armour. The alien watch began to move moulding itself until Ben's person was covered in black body armour that increased his strength, speed and gave him the use of two unbreakable swords. Azmuth had unlocked it for him 3 months previously. Ben felt Merlin fall into a necklace on his shoulder before the armour fully covered his body. Keeping a link to the ship, he quickly left and began his descent.

….

**Metropolis June 18**

Ben now walked through the streets of Metropolis. He thought one thing, superheroes.

Aliens.

Gods.

Magic.

All seemingly existed here. Ben found that some of them were criminals and attempted to take over the world whilst some of them formed a superhero team known as the Justice League. They helped protect the earth. He paused, these guys were powerful, there had to be a government group keeping an eye on them, this had been confirmed when Merlin had hacked into government websites and uncovered the powers, abilities and secret identities of all the members of the Justice League and their protégés.

The agency was called Cadmus and had been keeping ways on how to stop heroes if they ever go rogue. Unfortunately for them, most of their plans involved the heroes stopping the dangers.

Ben knew there was no realistic way, he could get back to his reality, and there were infinite number of alternate dimensions out there. Which left one option. Blending in.

…

**San Francisco June 24**

Ben sighed. He was sitting on top of a tall building in San Francisco. Merlin had easily created an identity for him and shipped the necessary paperwork to him as well. Due to Ben's enhanced intelligence, Ben was technically a billionaire after "inheriting" a large gold reserve. He lived on a mansion on the outskirts of San Francisco, his ship was hidden far beneath the mansion that also included his various weapons and such.

For the past month and a half, Ben had become San Francisco's resident hero, Legion. His suit enabled him to easily defeat criminals and crime lords and the Ultimatrix made him overpowered essentially, he had met Superman, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. Well not met, he had crept onto the Watchtower to get sample of their DNA for his watch. Superman became Strongman, Hawkgirl became Feathers and the Manhunter became Green Guy (he couldn't think of anything else).

So far, the public didn't really have anything on him which was good. Ben had been home training his body and skills, giving himself martial arts training and increasing his intelligence. He had used Grey Matter and had covertly sent large shipments of equipment home, equipment which he used to make an arsenal of weapons and other gadgets.

Ben sighed. He was stuck here for the unforeseeable future. He might as well get used to it. He quickly jumped off the top of a building and flew away to where a large car was running from police. He scanned it and discovered Metallo in the back as well as large bags of money. He smiled, too easy, he quickly picked an alien form and landed.

With a crash. Metallo was hurtled out of the car and turned around to find a gigantic creature. "**WAY BIG!**"

"What the hell?" he said with shock. Everyone else in the town's eyes widened then they saw green and black hour glass symbol on his chest.

"**I'M LEGION! NOW STAND DOWN NOW OR ELSE!"**

Metallo looked at the massive creature and shrugged before putting his hands up. He'd been paid to do a deal here to take care of the new hero. He was definitely over his head now. The police came and took the kryptonite radiation out before thanking Legion.

Legion changed back into his armour and flew away. He quickly landed on a building and smiled. "Easy as pie." He paused when his armour indicated a strange energy manipulation at his house and he quickly teleported there.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Interesting." He quickly keyed his communicator and disappeared.

….

Ben arrived underground his house, he deactivated his armour and turned and his eyes widened as he saw a familiar small greenish grey figure and a young Japanese woman.

"Julie?" he said. "Azmuth?"

Julie spun around and gave Ben a hug, her green and black backpack falling off her back turning into a small doglike figure. "Ship ship!" it squealed.

Ben smiled and hugged his girlfriend back, after a few seconds he turned to Azmuth. "Are you sending me home?" he asked. He didn't bother asking how Azmuth got here, the guy was the smartest being in the universe.

The Galvan gave Ben a look then shook his head. "Unfortunately no." He went over to Ben and began adjusting the Ultimatrix before sitting down on a table. "I made the Ultimatrix more durable and made a connection with it making you the only person able to use it, I also rendered your mind immune to telepathy and accelerating your healing process." He frowned. "Your new alien species have ultimate forms, interesting."

"Um thanks but what now?" Ben gave Azmuth a confused look. This was a way to get home. If Azmuth could get here with Julie, surely they could get back?

"You will stay here with Julie."

"You're joking," Ben said uncertainly. "Right?"

"No. All your villains are in jail, Albedo is actually deciding to do good, and your family think that you're dead. It would be best if you stayed here."

"What about Julie?" Ben was not happy at all.

"Julie has left earth permanently." Azmuth put a small remote on Ben's chair. "Use this if you wish to contact me or otherwise have fun. The Galvan activated his portal and jumped through leaving Ben confused.

Julie rolled her eyes and turned away from Ben who stood frozen. "Hello Merlin." The green and black alien stood up and was connected to a robot which it used around the house.

The mechamoprh nodded at Julie. "I am already creating an identity for you, it would be best to leave Ben alone for now and learn about the _differences _between this world and ours."

….

**Watchtower**

Superman and the founders of the Justice League sat around a table. In front of them was photo evidence and footage of the newest hero Legion.

"So," Flash said. "We ask him to join simple."

John rolled his eyes. "He can transform into any alien species he wants. But these aliens I've _never _seen before and they don't exist."

"And we know nothing about him," Batman finished.

"And that's worrying because?" Diana asked.

"He could be a liability or a danger," Batman replied.

"I would offer my services," Superman said. "But he seems to have something that blocks my x-ray vision, I had to do a report with Lois on Legion."

"He helps people," Aquaman said. "So he can join."

"It's not that simple," John said. "If he does join, he could get DNA samples of any aliens we meet and easily subdue us."

"So," Flash said. "In other words, Bats is having trust problems right? And so does John?"

"He could be an enemy," Bruce growled. Sometime he hated Wally.

"And if he is, we stop him," Diana said. "This is like letting all the other Justice Leaguers join, we need to show that we are willing to include anyone into the League."

"What if he becomes too dangerous?" Batman growled. "He'll have access to a seemingly endless array of alien species."

"He won't." Superman sighed. "We'll stop him definitely."

Batman growled. "Fine, we'll get him to join, but not now. I'm trying to gather more information on him."

….

**San Francisco July 15**

Three weeks later…

Julie Yamamoto looked over at Ben who was lying backwards on a couch watching TV. "This is what you do all day?" she asked.

Ben shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much, I make stuff as well but other than that it's mostly this."

Julie rolled her eyes. "That may be nice but I'm going to be a lawyer."

Ben shrugged. "K. I'll just stay here and make stuff."

Julie was about to say something when her eyes were drawn to the TV. Her eyes widened. "What the hell?"

On the TV several large holes in the sky appeared which were followed by gigantic ships and seemingly an entire army of demons. "Parademons," Ben said. "Armies of an inter-galactic warlord known as Darkseid."

The view of the TV shifted to Superman being hammered by a rock-like figure. "You do the city with Ship and the robots," Ben got up. "I got a new DNA sample to get."

….

The police in San Francisco were having a hard time. An army had come out and were trying to take over the world _again_.

There was a large explosion and the police chief turned to face a figure in a highly advanced green and black armoured suit which covered the entire body. She was followed by a seemingly endless array of robots which converged on the invading police force.

"Officer," the voice was unmistakably female but distorted. "Nice to meet you I'm Mecha." Then she flew off and engaged the aliens. The officer shrugged.

….

**Metropolis **

Luthor and Batman were currently engaged in an intense fight against the Parademons whilst Superman was getting pummelled by a newly invigorated Darkseid who was more powerful than ever.

More Parademons came out and both tensed only for the invaders to be destroyed when a large 4-armed beast landed.

"I'm Legion." There was a green flash then the alien was swapped with figure in black armour with a black and green hourglass symbol.

Luthor raised an eyebrow. "And what pray tell do you want?" He'd heard of Legion and Mecha. Their talents and technology were incredibly interesting, it was a shame they were heroes.

"Where's Darkseid?" Legion asked.

"Down there," Luthor said. He shot a parademon. "Why?" He noticed Batman was narrowing his eyes.

"I want some of his DNA." Legion jumped off the roof and flew to the two titans leaving a confused Batman and Luthor. What could he want with DNA?

….

**San Francisco **

Mecha was not having a good day. She quickly ducked and continued to blast away the armies of Apokolips. She landed next to a blonde haired girl who was standing there quietly watching.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. "Get out!"

The girl paused. "I can help."

"How?!" Mecha mentally commanded Ship to create massive blasters which he did and he began destroying the aliens.

The girl spun around and was soon revealed to be a wearing a white suit with a very large hole where her cleavage was. The suit was shaped like Wonder Woman's but had a strap and two blue boots. "I'll help if you get me somewhere to live."

Mecha raised an eyebrow even though she knew the girl probably couldn't see it. "Fine but you better wear something more conservative!"

The girl smiled before blasting away the parademons with heat vision. "Name's Galatea, I'm Supergirl's clone but you can call me Power Girl."

….

**Metropolis**

Darkseid began to walk towards Superman slowly before a figure descended in front of the Kryptonian. He growled. "Move."

The figure didn't move. An automated voice came out and a green light covered Darkseid's body. "Scanning, uncatalogued DNA saved and verified as New God from Apokolips."

Darkseid stepped back. "What is this?" Did the human collect a sample of his body?

"Oh this is going to be fun." A green flash covered the area, when it died down, Darkseid looked in astonishment. There stood a figure looking exactly like him! It was slimmer and had a large green and black hourglass symbol on his chest. "I'm Legion, and this form can be I don't know Rocky?"

Darkseid narrowed his eyes. Then he attacked.

And was thrown backwards by the force of two of _his _Omega Beams hitting him square in the chest. He growled and punched Rocky in the chest. Rocky was thrown backward but recovered quickly to nail the New God in the chest. Darkseid growled. He could fight, but he didn't have time for this. "This isn't over." He activated his boom tubes and signalled for the invasion to end. Then he left.

Legion turned to pick up Superman who eyed him warily. Ignoring it, Legion turned and said, "See ya!"

Batman eye's narrowed. He had more homework to do.

….

**San Francisco**

Ben and Julie looked over at Galatea and the metahuman boy in their house. Both had been picked up by Julie.

"So," he said. "What happens now?"

Galatea shrugged. "I want a normal life." She'd escaped from Cadmus and now wanted an attempt at a normal life, so she'd gone to the only heroes not in the Justice League. They had much more of a chance of assisting her than everyone else.

The boy who couldn't be more than 10 said, "I'm Samuel Ives, I have nowhere to live and everyone thinks I'm a freak." As if to emphasize five claws came out from just below his knuckles. Julie and Ben gave each other a look.

There was a long pause. "Fine," Ben said. "We have plenty to do."


	2. Independece Day

**Hi Guys! Thanks for all the reviews and the favs! Here's the next chapter in the serious.**

**Ben's Ultimatrix is a lot more advanced and much more powerful. Virtually indestructible and hard. I'm going to take themes from the JLU cartoon and put them in a mostly Young Justice centred universe. That means Supergirl lives, etc. Ben has some JL alien transformations. His sidekick Claw has an omnitrix with 11 or so aliens. Superboy is also stronger and faster than he is in the cartoons. Superboy will get flight and heat vision (not straight away) and be stronger than he was in the cartoon. The series will basically follow the path of the cartoon but it might vary from time to time in some spots**

Chapter 2

Independence Day

4 years later

**San Francisco July 4 9:25 PDT**

As far as hero wise, San Francisco had three of the most powerful heroes in the world, the Shapeshifting alien Legion, Mecha and Power Girl. There were very few villains that made that city home. Especially due to the fourth hero in the city.

Samantha Owen or Energy blasted towards Claw. She was a tall woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, who after the discovery of her powers and the death of her family caused her to lose her control. She possessed almost all of Superman's powers but to a much lesser extent and could control energy. Strength and speed wise, Hawkgirl could over power her.

Claw was a 14 year old boy who wore a black suit similar to his mentor Legion. On the front however was a blue and black hourglass symbol on his chest. Claw had superhuman strength, agility, senses, and short almost impenetrable retractable claws on his hands and was incredibly good at martial arts. His real name was Samuel Ives and he was the adopted son of Benjamin Kirby and his wife Julie Kirby.

He had an omnitrix which was like Ben's but without as many aliens. It only had 10 or so forms. It also had a communicator, a tracker, a USB port, a holographic display screen, a watch and it had Master Control unlocked so he change into his forms at will as well as the necessary security precautions. It also had armour which could cover him in seconds, the armour left his mouth open but it closed for space travel and underwater travel. He rarely used his alien transformations, it was better he felt without it. He mostly used the omnitrix for communications, hacking and music.

"_It would be advisable that you end this confrontation now unless you wish to be late,"_ a voice said. Claw gritted his teeth at the voice of his psychic AI Gwen. He sighed. Energy wasn't strong, her blasts were just destructive.

"Come on out, Claw!" The crazed metahuman continued to blast around the bank.

Claw rolled his eyes. "Come on! Get better lines'" He quickly ran to a wall and back flipped over Energy before putting a collar around her neck which neutralized her powers.

He rolled his eyes and began to carry her out where his mentor Legion and Power Girl were at. Galatea had taken the name of Karen Starr and was now a superhero in San Francisco she had one really good friend another clone Donna Troy who was the clone of Wonder Woman. Ben was now a leader of Kirby Industries one of the world's leading companies in electronics, engineering and agricultural science. He and Julie had joined the Justice League shortly after the Apokoliptan invasion and then he had helped Karen join as well. That was what had helped lead up to this moment.

Most of the Leaguers liked Legion but obviously didn't like his almost endless array of alien forms that was complicated even further when they heard of his Ultimate forms.

"Can we go?" Claw asked. Karen rolled her eyes and took Energy and began to fly away. "Today's the day."

….

**Gotham City 12:00 EDT**

It was a stunning day in Gotham which was strange considering the crime, families were out enjoying themselves when it got worse. And cold. Families were frozen where they stood, they weren't dead, just in ice.

A well-built man in a black and blue exo-suit walked out, the only part of his face visible was his face which was chalk-white and in a transparent dome. In his hand he carried a large heavy gun with cold air coming from the tip.

Freeze was about to blast another family when a batarang hit his gun. He tensed. "Batman, I was wondering when you'd show up." Laughing lit the air then he turned as a slim figure hit his helmet and knocked him to the ground whilst hitting him with two more batarangs. The figure wore a skin-tight red and black outfit with reinforced black gloves, a black cape and a black R could be seen on the left side of his chest. On his face he wore a black domino mask and his hair fell in the middle of it.

"Ah, the Boy Wonder," Freeze got up. "The Bat sent _you _to drag me off to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed."

"Yeah sure," Robin or 13 year-old Dick Grayson said. "Can we wrap this up? I'm kind of in a hurry!"

"Kids," Freeze sneered. "Always in such a rush." He pointed the gun at Robin

"Not talking to you…" Robin gestured behind Freeze.

Freeze quickly realised what that meant and he looked up in time to see Batman fall from the sky and knocking him out. Batman glared at Robin. "You didn't wait for my signal."

Robin shrugged. "Today's the day!"

….

**Pearl Harbour 6:02 HST**

Several ships were frozen in the area as Killer Frost fired beams of ice at two figures. One was the King of Atlantis Aquaman or Arthur, he wore golden and green armour and he had blonde hair, light skin and he had a belt around his waist, the other was a dark skinned adolescent with swirling tattoos around his body, he wore a red and black hammer with a slim device on his back, he was Aqualad or Kaldur to his friends.

Aquaman landed on the deck of the ship and Killer Frost fired and froze him in a block of ice. Aqualad back flipped over the king and raced past him.

"Don't tell me you're not excited Kaldur," Aquaman said as he broke free.

"Right now, my King I'm more focused on the task at hand," Aqualad replied. He dodged the blasts from Killer Frost and took out two thick sticks that were around the length of his forearms. He formed two maces with them and jumped up as Killer Frost fired at him, the ice hardened around his hands and he landed neatly before slamming the maces into the villainess's face knocking her out.

"Well?" the bearded superhero asked as he came up to his protégé.

"Yes, I'm excited." Aqualad turned from the unconscious body to his king. "Today's the day."

...

**Star City 9:01 PDT**

The citizens of Star City panicked as another ice-villain ran amok. Icicle Jr had the ability to coat his body in ice and generate large quantities of it.

He smiled as he walked across the bridge. That was until an arrow went across his path. He turned and narrowed his eyes till he saw a familiar green figure and a man in red and yellow.

"Finally!" Icicle said. "I was wondering what a guy had to do to get attention!" He shot ice diamonds at the two heroes.

"Is he doing this for attention?" 17 year-old Roy Harper or Speedy asked as they shot.

Oliver Queen or Green Arrow shrugged. "Maybe."

The two of them leapt off the bridge and landed on one of the supporting wires. Running Speedy jumped up and back flipped over two ice particles and fired at Icicle. The arrow hit the villain in the face knocking him out.

Green Arrow chuckled. "Guy had a glass jaw."

"Hilarious." Speedy put his arrows away. "Can we go now? Today's the day."

….

**Central City 11:03 CDT**

Captain Cold muttered darkly to himself as he shot at two blurs moving around him, one was a red blur, the other was half yellow. None of his shots hit his targets much to his sadness.

Wally West laughed as he dodged and ducked Cold in his red suit which identified him as Flash. "Come on Cold, seriously? Stealing ice?" He referred to Cold's diamonds. "Isn't that a bit cliché even for you?"

Barry Allan was a young 15 year old boy in yellow and red armour with red being on top and yellow on bottom, with red gloves, yellow boots and red goggles. He growled. "Come on, we don't have time for this!" He turned and quickly yanked the gun out of Cold's hands being iced on the shoulder.

Cold growled and stepped forward only to be punched by Wally. Wally looked down at his nephew. "Calm down Kid."

"Oh please," Kid Flash said. "You'll chat it up with cops, with bystanders with _Cold _even. No, no no way, today's the day."

….

**Washington DC 12:00 EDT**

Robin, Batman, Speedy, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Aqualad, Claw and Legion all stood proudly in front of the Hall of Justice. The testament to all the hard work the Justice League had been doing.

"Today is the day," Batman said as he tapped Robin's shoulder. His face was creased in a rare smile.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow smiled.

"The Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman said.

"And home to an _amazing_ smoothie bar," Legion said only to receive a mild glare from Batman.

There was a pause then rapidly approaching feet. Then Flash arrived with Kid Flash seconds behind him. "Oh man! I knew we'd be the last one's here!" He crossed his arms and huffed.

Batman began moving forward. "Let's get moving." He ignored the comments of the crowd.

"Is that Batman? And Robin?"

"Oooh, I see Flash and Flash Jr!"

"His name's Speedy, duh!"

"No, Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick!"

"It's the shape shifter and his sidekick!"

Green Arrow smiled at Speedy then whispered over his shoulder. "Ready to see the inner sanctum?"

Speedy grinned. "Born that way."

Aqualad smiled. "I'm glad we're all here."

Kid Flash grinned. "Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?"

"Don't call us sidekicks." Roy lifted his head. "Not after today."

"Sorry." Claw rolled his eyes as Kid Flash continued speaking. "First time at the hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed," Robin said. "Freeze is underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?"

The group entered the Hall where they saw seven large statues of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter. They were greeted at the door to the restricted access area by one of the figures Martian Manhunter accompanied by Red Tornado.

The Martian stepped forward. "Robin, Aqualad, Speedy, Kid Flash and Claw. Welcome." The group followed him and as they went in J'onn kept talking. "You know have unlimited access to the gym, a kitchen and of course our library."

They entered a large room with armchairs and couches, on the walls surrounding the rooms was a large library. Flash grinned. "Make yourselves at home." The younger heroes collapsed on the couches whilst Speedy stayed standing. One side of the room were several large computers and screens.

Batman drew the older heroes away. "A quick de-brief to discuss the co-incidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." He gave the sidekicks a look. "We shouldn't be long."

He turned to a large door where a camera came from the roof and began scanning. A female voice rang out. "Recognized Batman 02, Aquaman 06, Flash 04, Green Arrow 08, Martian Manhunter 07, Red Tornado 16, Legion 17." The door opened and the group began to get ready to enter.

"That's it?" Speedy asked, the older heroes turned around to face him. "You promised us a real look inside." He crossed his arms. "Not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a first step," Aquaman replied. "You've been granted access few others get."

"Oh really?" Speedy retorted. He pointed up at the glass where the photographers and the civilians were looking. "Who cares what side of the glass we're on?"

"Roy." Green Arrow stepped forward. "You just need to be patient." Claw rolled his eyes.

"What I _need _is respect." Speedy turned around to face the other teens. "They're treating us like kids, worse like sidekicks. We deserve better than this."

They all looked at each other then back at Speedy. "You're kidding right? You're playing their game! Fine! Today was supposed to be _the _day. Step 1 into becoming _full-fledged _members of the League."

"Well sure," Kid Flash said. "I thought step 1 was a tour of the HQ."

"Except the Hall _isn't _the League's real HQ." The other sidekicks sat up whilst Claw rolled his eyes. He knew about the Watchtower. He had the world's most advanced computer, the existence of the Watchtower was easily discovered by him. "I bet they never told you, it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing, an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

"I didn't know that," Kid Flash said.

"I knew." Claw got a glare from Robin. "What? I have the world's most advanced computer systems. Of course I knew. But we wouldn't get on it straight away." Ben gave Claw a dark look.

Green Arrow got a glare from Batman. "I know, I know but I thought that maybe we could make an exception." Batman's eyes narrowed and Arrow's hopeful expression died out. "Or not."

"You're not helping your cause here son, stand down." Aquaman gave Roy a hard look.

"Or what? You'll send me to my room?" Roy glared at Aquaman. "And I'm not your son and neither am I his son." He gave Green Arrow a look. "I thought I was your partner, well not anymore!" He tore off his yellow hat.

The other sidekicks looked at him in shock. Speedy began to walk past them and out of the building. "Guess I'm not right about you four," he said as he did so. "You're not ready." The other sidekicks stood up in shock and watched him.

A transmission showed up. "Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus, it's on fire."

Batman turned to Superman. "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This maybe the perfect time to…" He was cut off by another transmission.

"Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to block out the sun! Requesting full League response!" The magician showed up the screen.

"Superman." Batman looked back at the Man of Steel.

"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait. All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates, Batman out." He turned to the sidekicks as they came up. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Robin asked.

"This is a League mission." Aquaman stated.

"You're not ready," Flash said. Legion almost face palmed. This was so not helpful.

"Since when!" Kid Flash said.

"I've worked with Leaguers before!" Claw said.

"You're not trained to work park of this team." Flash motioned to the Justice League.

"There will be other missions," Aquaman said almost gently, as if he was talking to his child. "When you're ready."

"But for now," Batman said in a dangerous tone as his eyes narrowed. "_Stay put._" He turned and walked away followed by the others.

"Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" Green Arrow asked Martian Manhunter.

"Indeed," he replied.

Legion turned around, he didn't like the vote the senior members had taken but at least he could still help them indiscreetly and said. "Be careful there's _no-one _here to supervise you." The Leaguers all filed out and moved away and the large door closed.

"When we're ready?" Kid Flash snorted. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like…?"

"Sidekicks," Claw muttered darkly under his breath. "I hate this."

"My mentor, my king," Aqualad said. "I thought he trusted me."

"Trust?" Kid Flash said. "They don't even trust us with the basics. They have a secret HQ in SPACE!"

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad said.

"Will they want us to be their sidekicks for life?" Claw said. He was mad, Ben never treated him like a sidekick. Never. This was …. Wait Ben had said something at the end. He turned to Robin with a smile and the Boy Wonder realised what Claw was thinking about but he had something to say.

"I have a better question," Robin said. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" The teens paused and thought about it.

"What is Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked.

"Don't know," Claw said. He reached for his omnitrix and activated the computer systems. The others gathered around him and he enlarged the screen. "But I can find out."

"Whoa," Kid Flash said as he saw the firewalls breaking. "How are you doing this?"

"Galvan tech, way better than even Kryptonian technology." A photo came up. "Project Cadmus, a genetics lab in DC." Claw frowned. "That's everything."

"But if Batman's suspicious," Robin said. "Maybe we should investigate."

"And solve their case before they do," Aqualad said with a little smile. "It would be poetic justice."

"Hey," Robin smirked. "They're all about justice."

Aqualad sighed. "They said to stay put." He wasn't very keen on going against his king.

"For the blotting out the sun mission," Robin said. "Legion said there's no-one here to supervise us, remember?"

Kid Flash nudged Robin. "Are, are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going I'm going!" They turned to Aqualad.

"Just like that?" Aqualad asked. "We're a team on a mission."

"Yeah." A blue flash lit the area. In its place was a slim looking alien with blue armour and a long tail, it wore a blue and black hourglass symbol on its chest. "Streak. We didn't come for a playdate guys." Then he dashed out of the room.

"Oh you are so on." Kid Flash raced after it.

….

The fire was blazing through the building and it had no intentions of stopping. From the second floor, two scientists yelled down to the bottom. "Help! Get us out of here!"

"Stay put," a fireman spoke into his megaphone. The scientists nodded then screamed as the building blazed. They began to fall only to be caught by a blue streak which deposited them on the top of the building.

Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash quickly followed Claw after Aqualad helped the two scientists at the top of the building to get to the bottom. When they got there, they saw Claw in his human form hunched over a computer with his omnitrix out.

"Appreciate the help," Aqualad stated to Claw

"You handled it," came the response. "Besides we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"

Aqualad continued walking and he entered a hallway where he saw a horned figure in an elevator going down. He frowned as Kid Flash came up. "There was something in the…"

"Elevator should be locked down," Kid Flash said. Claw and Robin came up with Robin making his own holo computer.

"This is wrong," Robin said. The screen came up with something else. "This is a high speed _express _elevator. That doesn't belong in a two storey building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad came forward to the elevator and pulled it open, only to reveal a long shaft going down. "Huh?"

Robin grinned. "And that's why they need an express elevator." He fired his grappling hook and began making his way down followed by Kid Flash and Aqualad. Claw simply turned into Freezer (his name for Big Chill) and floated down with them. Robin continued to slide down to the 26th floor where his rope stopped. "I'm at the end of my rope." He quickly swung in and landed neatly on the ledge catching himself before he fell backwards into the shaft. He quickly hacked the computer as the others arrived.

"Hacking is so overrated," Freeze grabbed Aqualad and Kid Flash and going intangible he went straight through the door. Robin quickly opened the door and when they did, their eyes widened. "Welcome to Cadmus."

Kid Flash darted forward leaving the others, which infuriated both Aqualad and Claw. "Kid wait," Aqualad said then Kid Flash went headlong into what looked like an army of gigantic creatures which were grey skinned and looked to be incredibly strong. They didn't notice the small creatures on top with horns and red eyes.

"Damn," Claw said, he changed back into his human form wearing armour. "We are so over our heads."

….

A man in a lab coat with brown hair and glasses sat hunched over his lab. He smiled approvingly when red disappeared and was replaced with blue in a small vial.

"Dr Desmond," a man wearing a black and blue combat suit with a golden helmet and golden shield entered the room. A small monkey like animal was on his shoulder.

"Tell me Guardian," came the response as Desmond placed the vial away in a container labelled Blockbuster. "What part of 'no interruptions' do you not understand?"

Guardian was unfazed. "A G-Gnomes on sublevel 26 reported four intruders."

Desmond sighed. "Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?"

"No…" Guardian responded.

"Then the G-Gnomes confused," Desmond snapped. "Whatever might occur in our faux-lab underground, the real Cadmus is the most secure lab in DC."

"It's my job to keep it that way."

"Fine. Take a squad." Desmond sighed. He turned back to his work.

Before Guardian left another figure entered the room. This one was skinny and grey skinned and wore a white shirt and pants. He had elf-like ears, red eyes and two horns that curved upwards. "Might I suggest Guardian leave his G-Gnome behind," Dubbilex said. "If violence should occur…"

"The little guy might get in my way," Guardian finished patting the G-Gnome.

"No!" Desmond turned back to face the duo. "The advantage of instant telepathic communication outweighs other concerns." The G-Gnome he was fondling, the horns glowed as did the one on Guardians shoulder.

"I need my G-Gnome with me at all times," Guardian said this in a robotic tone. He then bowed his head and exited the room with Dubbilex behind him.

….

The group avoided the strange creatures and opened a door which Robin hacked and the four heroes were stunned.

"Okay," Robin said. "I'm officially whelmed." The others reluctantly agreed with him.

The room which they were in had rows of large translucent jars; inside each one was an identical, insect-like creature with arcs of electricity emitted by its abdomen. The electricity was then stored by a device at the bottom of the jar.

"So this is how they hide this facility," Kid Flash said whilst studying the creatures. "The real Cadmus lab isn't on the grid, it has its own power source with these … things."

"It's what they're bred for," Claw was scanning one of the creatures. "They made them from scratch and they generate huge amounts of electricity and power."

"Maybe," Aqualad frowned.

"These guys create life," Robin said, he was already hacking a computer. "They're called geno morphs. Wow, look at the stats on these things! Super-strength, telepathy, razor claws, these are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army," Kid Flash said, "but for who?"

"Wait, there's something else." Robin quickly broke through a firewall. "Project Kr… the file's triple-encrypted I can't…"

Claw frowned. _Kr as in …._ He was broken out of his thoughts by someone.

"Don't move!" Guardian rushed into the room followed by a pack of grey skinned creatures with razor sharp claws. The creatures snarled but didn't attack.

"Wait," Guardian said. "Claw, Kid Flash, Robin and Aqualad?"

"At least he got your names right," Robin joked as he continued downloading files.

"I know you," Aqualad said. "You're Guardian, a hero."

"I do my best," Guardian replied with a smile.

"Then what are _you_ doing here?" Kid Flash asked.

"I'm the chief of security," Guardian said. "And you're trespassing, don't worry we'll call the Justice League and they'll figure something out."

"Do you thing the League's going to approve of your weapons?" Claw asked gesturing around them.

"Weapons? What are you…?" Guardian trailed off when the G-Gnomes horns on his shoulders glowed. When they stopped Guardian snarled. "Take 'em down! No mercy!"

The Genomorphs charged, Robin disconnected from the computer and fired a grappling hook into the air whilst dropping smoke pellets. The smoke gave them pause, which allowed the heroes' time to retaliate. Kid Flash began ducking some of his attackers, his super speed enabling him to easily defeat them and giving incredibly hard punches. Aqualad drew his water hammers and began to slash them around hitting the Genomorphs left and right and ducking their claws.

Claw faced off against Guardian and began to fight, Guardians skills were good but Claw didn't want to severely damage him so he quickly changed into Electron (Buzzshock) and zapped the hero till he twitched as his nervous system began to adapt to the electricity. Quickly exiting the room with Kid Flash followed by Aqualad, they caught up to Robin who was breaking into an elevator.

_He sure does break into stuff a lot _Claw thought as he ran to the Boy Wonder.

"Hey Rob, nice team work!" Kid Flash said.

"Weren't you behind me?" Robin asked, he was genuinely confused about the others had been taking so long. They piled in just before the Genomorphs and breathed a sigh of relief, before they noticed the direction they were in.

"Umm, we're headed _down_," Claw said. "I thought you were smart?"

"Dude!" Kid Flash said. "Out is up!"

Robin narrowed his eyes at Kid Flash. "Excuse me?" he said it in an insulted tone. "Project Kr is down on sub-level 52."

"This is getting out of control," Aqualad said as he paced the elevator scratching his head. "Perhaps… perhaps we _should _call the League."

"We are already here," Kid Flash said.

The elevator opened and the group tensed. The room was like the inside of an intestine, the walls looked like raw flesh whilst blue pods were attached to the wall. The group continued.

"_I STRONGLY ADVISE LEAVING THESE PEOPLE! YOU'LL GET YOURSELVES KILLED!"_ Claw's AI was yelling. He ignored it for now, and went with them. They continued to a fork in the pathway.

"Bizarre looking hallway one or Bizarre looking hallway two?" Robin said. "Take your pick?"

"Hold!" the four turned to see Dubbilex at the left hallway. His horns glowed red and a crate lifted from the ground and hurled itself at them.

"I think we know!" Kid Flash raced ahead of the group as they dashed down the hallway.

Dubbilex took a few steps forward only for the elevator to open and Guardian with some Genomorphs came out. "They are headed for Project Kr!" Dubbilex shouted as they ran past him.

….

Kid Flash quickly came to the end of the hallway where a large vault-like door reading Project Kr. He dashed past a scientist and quickly put a crate in the before the door shut and jumped in, he was followed by Robin, Aqualad and Claw who shoved the crate out before their pursuers could jump in.

Robin quickly hacked the door. "We're safe, I deactivated the door."

"And locked in here." Aqualad gave Robin a disdainful look, he was beginning to regret coming here.

"Uh guys," Kid Flash said pointing at something in the shadows. "You might want to see this." He flicked the light switch.

In the centre of the room was a teenage boy around their age appearing to be unconscious leaning against an upright table in what looked to be a glass pod. He was muscular for their age; he wore a white skin tight suit which only showed his hands, wrists and face. The only thing that appeared young on his face was his mop of spiky dark hair, the look on his face appeared to be far too serious. But that was ignored when they saw the red, triangular shield with a large stylised S in the centre.

The House of El and _Superman's _symbol.

"Look," Kid Flash pointed to the Kr imprinted on the side of the pod. "Big K, little r, the symbol for Krypton."

"Clone?" Claw asked.

"Robin, hack," Aqualad said firmly. If they got out of here alive, the League would _love _this.

"Right, right." Robin replied quickly as he hacked into the computer. "Um, weapon designated Superboy, a clone force-grown in sixteen weeks! Created from DNA acquired from Superman and based on theories on Galatea before stabilization. Who's Galatea?"

"Galatea is Power Girl, she was going mentally insane because her cloning process wasn't done correctly, Legion stabilized her," Claw said.

"DNA was stolen from Superman more likely," Aqualad growled.

"No way Big Guy know about this," Kid Flash said.

"Solar suit allows for absorption of yellow sun radiation 24/7," Robin continued.

"And these creatures?" Claw asked pointing at the small creatures hovering above his head in the pod.

"Genomorph Gnomes," Robin continued. "They're telepathic and force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else," Kid Flash growled. "They're making a slave out of well Superman's … son."

"_Now_ we contact the League," Aqualad said. He reached for his belt where his communicator was and he tapped it.

"No signal," Claw said. His omnitrix had stopped but now Gwen spoke up. "_It would be advisable to transform into the Martian form Ghost and observe, the clone will probably retaliate." _Claw did so and went into the ceiling of the room to watch, going intangible and invisible. He was thankfully lucky for the unlimited time limit.

"We're in too deep," Kid Flash said. "On all accounts." He turned around and looked for Claw. "And Claw ditched us, great."

….

Outside the door a small army of Genomorphs waited with Guardian. Desmond came up with Dubbilex. "They're still in there? With the weapon?"

"We can't get the door open," Guardian responded.

"Use your telekinesis," the scientist raged at Dubbilex.

"I have tried. To no avail." The Genomorph closed his eyes.

"Useless!" raged Desmond. "This is a debacle. Get some G-Trolls here to muscle their way in."

"Already on their way," Guardian replied.

"You realize once we get in there, they _cannot _leave."

"Doc." Guardian gave Desmond a look. "These aren't your typical _meddling _kids, you don't want to get on the wrong side of the Justice League."

"Better than getting on the wrong side of the Cadmus Board of Directors," Desmond replied. "Believe me." He noticed the G-Gnome on Guardians shoulder and got an idea. "Contact the G-Gnomes inside Kr."

The G-Gnome nodded and its horns began to glow.

…

"This is wrong," Kid Flash said. "And Claw is missing."

"We can't leave him like this," Robin turned to Aqualad.

Aqualad stroked his chin and reached a decision. "Set him free, now!"

Robin nodded and unlocked the pod. The walls retracted into the ceiling and the floor. For a moment the clone didn't move then his hands twitched and his eyes fluttered open to look at the group.

Aqualad narrowed his eyes.

_They are so screwed,_ Claw thought. _Should I help them?_ There was a pause then his Gwen responded back in his head.

_"__No. Watch and observe them save them."_

Superboy face went into a snarl and he leapt forward slamming into Aqualad and slamming the Atlantean into the ground, he began to repeatedly punch him until Robin and Kid Flash came and tried to stop him.

"What are you doing?" the speedster yelled before Superboy grabbed him roughly and slammed him into the wall violently until the speedster was knocked out.

"We're on your side!" Robin said. "I don't want to do this!" He slammed some gas into Superboy's face then Aqualad kicked the clone away. _Man, I really could use Claw here and some kryptonite. _

Robin fired some tasers at Superboy but the clone grabbed the tasers and ripped them forcing the Boy Wonder towards him. Superboy slammed Robin to the ground and stomped on him hard. "**ENOUGH!" **Aqualad shouted as he quickly got to his feet and ran at Superboy slamming his water hammers at the clone and throwing him away.

_We have to help! _Claw thought. They were being hammered.

Another voice tried to make contact with him, _Hide and observe._

Aqualad began helping Robin up but the boy collapsed grunting. Kaldur got to his feet and faced the Kryptonian. "We are _trying _to help you." Superboy snarled then leapt forward and began to exchange blows with him. Aqualad dodged the first few then Superboy slammed him into a wall. Kaldur kept going and tried to shock Superboy, the clone screamed and jumped up slamming Aqualad's back into the ceiling before landing twisting out of Aqualad's grip beginning to exchange a flurry of punches which knocked him out.

_Gwen! _Claw thought. _Do I? _

_"__No," _Gwen responded. _"Find out what they plan to do then step in maybe Superboy can be convinced to our side. Besides Robin will probably escape when he wakes up."_

_Humph. Fine. But they better not die._

….

Desmond was silently counting the seconds till the G-Trolls until the two was violently thrust open by a pair of hands. He smiled to himself and walked in seeing the three unconscious bodies. He saw that Claw vanished but he ignored and believed that the teen had disappeared due to his device. Pity he wanted to get a hand on it even though he doubted he would have been able to do anything considering it had some sort of self-destruct sequence on it. But three heroes were enough.

"Attaboy," he said as he turned back and smiled at Superboy.


	3. Fireworks

**Thank for all the favs, here is the next chapter enjoy!**

**This Justice League will basically be the same as it was in Young Justice but it will have Legion, Mecha, Power Girl and Supergirl, apart from that everything else is the same.**

**Chapter 3**

**Fireworks**

**Washington DC 22:00 EDT**

Dr Desmond paced the room nervously. His superiors were sure to come soon after he had sent that message. He was very nervous now about Claw. The sidekick had disappeared without a trace. 6 screens lowered themselves from the ceiling and activated each showing a vague figure in bright light but with no details.

"_Dr Desmond?" _one of the figures said. "_You require an audience with the Light?"_

"Yes," Desmond did not want these figures to end his career. "Very sorry to disturb you at this late hour…"

"_Just get on with it_," another figure demanded.

Desmond coughed. "Yes, well we had a small fire at Project Cadmus, the origin of the fire is unclear but it seems to have attracted some unwanted attention. Four sidekicks, Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash and Claw breached security and found and released the weapon the Superboy, of course the Clone is under our telepathic control and he turned against his would be liberators save Claw who got away. The three are contained and we don't believe the League are here."

He paused. "Uhh, what should I do with them?"

"Clone them," said the one which had told him to get to the point.

"_The substitutes will serve the Light and only the Light_," said the first voice. "_And find Claw, his device is interesting and needs …. Evaluation without destroying 10km of land_."

"And the originals of the sidekicks?" Desmond asked.

"_Dispose of them, with no traces." _That was the first voice.

Desmond smiled.

…..

**July 5 00:01**

"Prepare the cloning procedure on the new Project Sidekick," Desmond snapped to a scientist. Desmond checked up on the clone, he didn't really care about it but his superiors would be unhappy if it was damaged in any way. His eyes hardened when the pod was empty and all he saw were Genomorphs repairing the damage from the fight earlier. He glared at Guardian. "Where's the weapon?!"

"Superboy?" Guardian asked. "He carried the intruders to the cloning chamber."

"We have Genomorphs for that!" Desmond snapped. "Get the weapon back in its chamber!"

Guardian shrugged. "I see no harm in allowing him to stretch his legs."

"Don't you now?" Desmond said. Second later the Genomorph on his shoulder and Guardians began to glow.

Guardian stood up straight. "That clone belongs in a cage!" He marched off leaving a grinning Desmond.

….

Claw was dumbfounded, the security and firewalls in this place were amazing, and the best and he hadn't been able to get anything. The least he'd been able to do was get an extensive look and download all information on the Genomorphs. Giving up, he floated through the walls looking for the group.

_Let's free those bastards and get the hell out of here Gwen. Then we're going to be slaughtered by the Leaguers._

"_Agreed," _came the response.

….

(Time runs short, you must awaken)

(You must awaken now!)

The three sidekicks jerked up at the sound of voices in their heads and immediately regretted it. Superboy stood in front of them emotionless as they were all stuck in pods with their hands and feet apart.

"What? What do you want?" Kid Flash yelled. "And where the hell's Claw?!"

"Gathering information probably," Robin said. "That's what I'd be doing."

"Quit staring," Kid Flash said. "You're creeping me out!"

"KF!" Robin said. "How about not ticking off the guy who can fry us with a look?"

"Good work," Kid Flash said. "We free you and you turn on us, how's that for…"

"Kid," Kaldur said. "Please. I believe our friend wasn't in full control of his actions."

"What if I? What if I wasn't?" Superboy finally said.

"He can talk?" Kid Flash said.

Superboy glared at him, "Yes he can."

The others glared at Kid Flash. "Not like I said it."

"The Genomorphs taught you telepathically?" Aqualad looked at Superboy.

"They taught me much." Superboy looked at the three side-kicks. "I can read, write, I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them?" Robin asked. "Have they ever let you see the sky or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind," Superboy looked away. "But no I've not seen them."

"Do you know what you are?" Kaldur asked. "Who you are?"

"I am the Superboy," Superboy said as he stood up almost proudly. "A Genomorph, a clone created from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he perish or to destroy him should he turn from the light."

Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other in alarm whilst Aqualad continued talking. "To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration but like Superman you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar-suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

"I live because of Cadmus! It's my home!" Superboy shouted.

"You 'home' is a test-tube," Robin said. "We can show you the sun."

"Uhh, pretty sure it's after midnight," Kid Flash said. "But we can still show you the moon."

"We can show you, introduce you to Superman." Superboy's eyes widened when Kaldur said that.

"No." Desmond stepped in with Guardian and another scientist. "They can't, they'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process."

"Pass," Robin said jokingly. "Batcave's crowded enough."

"And get the weapon back in its pod!" Guardian moved forward and placed a hand on Superboy's shoulder.

"Hey how come he gets to call Supey an it?" Kid Flash asked.

"Help us," Kaldur said hopefully. Mentally he was wondering where the hell Claw was. "Please."

Superboy shrugged off Guardian's shoulder but that hope was quickly shut down when the G-Gnome on Desmond's shoulder hopped onto his. Superboy's expression went blank, "Don't start thinking now, you're a weapon, a clone belonging to me. Well to Cadmus same thing. Now get back to your pod." Superboy turned and left the room slowly.

When Superboy left, the pod activated with mechanical arms attaching itself to the heroes and extracting DNA and tissue. The procedure was extremely painful and excruciating. Desmond frowned. "Where's Dubbilex?" The Genomorph came out from behind him. "Lurking as usual, get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories, when that's done _delete_ the source material."

Robin's eyes widened. They were going to be dead and the clones would replace their families being none the wiser.

Aqualad grunted through the pain and whispered, he knew only a person with super-hearing could hear him. "Superboy, you….live. That gives you the right to follow your own path, a weapon or a person, the choice is yours, but ask yourself. What would Superman do?"

….

The clone stopped in the hallway and gritted his teeth as he heard those words, these people had wanted him to have freedom. He stood up straight and in an act of willpower that would have made Superman proud, he grabbed the Genomorph on his shoulder and flicked it knocking it out.

He made his choice, reinforced by a ghostly figure sprinting down the hallway.

….

All activity in the cloning chamber stopped when a loud impact crashed against the door and it was burst open, through the pain, the heroes grinned when they saw Superboy lift the thick door above his head and heft it at the computers, the computers crumpled like foil with the cloning machines stopping.

A bright blue flash lit the area and a gigantic red figure with four arms and four eyes walked into the room. "Where the hell have you been?" Kid Flash yelled at Multitasker

Desmond, Guardian and Dubbilex moved to intercept Superboy.

"I told you to get back to your-oof!" Desmond was backhanded into Guardian and Dubbilex.

"Don't give me orders," Superboy growled.

"So," Kid Flash asked. "You here to help us or fry us?"

Superboy narrowed his eyes then smiled. "Huh I don't seem to have heat vision so I suppose helping is my only option."

Before he could free any of them, Robin's restraints opened and the glass part of the pod fell to the floor as he kicked it. Superboy noticed several lock picks retract into this glove fingers. "Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here; he'd have my head for taking so long."

"Seriously?" Multitasker asked incredulously as he stood behind Superboy. "That's what you're worried about? I got nothing else from the computer systems!"

"The whole League will have our heads after tonight!" Kid Flash yelled.

Robin ignored them and walked over to one of the remaining computers and pressed a button; opening the glass of the other pods, before turning to Superboy and Claw. "Free the Aqualad and Kid Mouth."

"Don't you give me orders either," Superboy said warningly before he jumped up to Aqualad's pod and ripped off the restraints, while Multitasker (Claw in Fourarms form) ripped off Kid Flash's restraints. After that he turned back into his human form.

"Thanks," Aqualad said, Superboy nodded in answer. The group began to run past the scientists as they began to get up.

"You-you'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning!" Desmond yelled after them.

"That guy is not whelmed," Robin said, he dug into his utility belt and pulled out four explosive disks.  
"Not whelmed at all."

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" Kid Flash asked as Robin threw the disks, seconds later after each disk destroyed the spheres, destroying the stolen DNA.

Desmond rose to his feet as the heroes left and glared at the damage. The League could get here if this continued and he didn't need that. He snapped his fingers, and a G-Gnome jumped onto his shoulder.

"Activate every Genomorph in Cadmus."

The G-Gnome's horns began to glow

…

"We are still forty two levels below ground!" Aqualad yelled as they ran.

"If we can back it to the elevator, we can cut it down!" Claw yelled.

Unfortunately, their path was blocked by several G-Trolls, and there were hundreds of clawed Genomorphs behind them and awakening from stasis. Since the G-Trolls were the closest, the group decided to go through them.

The first G-Troll tried to crush them but they dodged. Not wanting to get bogged down, Aqualad slid to the side of them ignoring the G-Trolls grabs while Robin and Claw's acrobatics allowed them to get around easily enough and Kid Flash's speed let him waltz through. The only one who fought was Superboy, with a roar he lunged at the first G-Troll and knocked it flat on its back. He was slammed onto the ground but he reacted violently and slammed his attacker into the wall.

"Superboy!" Aqualad yelled. "Our goal is to escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

"You want to run?!" Superboy yelled. He grabbed one of the fallen G-Trolls and threw it, knocking the others down. "_Now _we can go!"

They got to the elevator and Aqualad ripped the doors open, Claw grabbed Kid Flash and began to jump the sides of the elevators, Robin used his grappling hook and Superboy grabbed Aqualad and jumped up the elevator shaft appearing to fly, then at the tenth sublevel he began to sink.

"I'm falling," Superboy said disbelieving.

Robin quickly threw a grappling hook and Aqualad caught it at the fifteenths sublevel. The others catching up to them.

"Superman can fly," the clone said disappointed and confused. "Why can't I fly?"

"Don't know," Kid Flash said. "But it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, still cool." Superboy smiled a little at that.

"Guys!" Robin motioned upwards, to where the elevator was moving downwards. "This'll have to be our exit." The group quickly threw the door open at their sublevel and then they jumped in narrowly avoiding being hit. Avoiding the Genomorphs, they took the left hallway.

_Turn left brother, v_oice said in Superboy's head. He frowned then called out.

"Left!" They turned left.

_Turn right brother_, the voice said again. Superboy called out.

"Right!" They turned right into a wall.

"Great directions Supey!" Kid Flash said. "You trying to get us repodded?"

"I… I don't understand," Superboy said scratching his head.

"Don't apologize," Robin said motioning to the large vent at the top of the wall. "This is perfect!"

Seconds later when the Genomorphs reached the same wall, they found the vent's grate on the wall.

"At this rate, we'll never get out!" Kid Flash complained as they crawled.

"Stop complaining!" Claw growled. "You wanted to show you're not a sidekick, remember?"

"Shhh!" Superboy said. "Listen." The sound of pursuers followed them.

Robin grinned. "I got a plan."

…

Desmond continued to become more agitated and annoyed as he Dubbilex, Guardian and a squad of Genomorphs ran behind them. "Someone-Robin or Claw-I'd wager hacked our systems, deactivating the internal security systems. Ah," he said with a sick smile. "But he neglected the motion sensors."

The sensors indicated the heroes would end up in a men's restroom. The three waited under a vent. "The Genomorphs are closing in. We have them cornered!" Desmond smiled. At least the day wasn't going to be a failure.

Seconds later, a group of Genomorphs fell out of the vent on top of the group. Angrily Desmond punched away a Genomorph. "He hacked the motion sensors."

…

"I hacked the motion sensors." Robin shut down his holo computer and gave Claw a high five.

"Sweet." Kid Flash said.

"But there's still plenty between us and out," Robin continued.

"But I finally got time to move," Kid Flash slid his goggles on and ran up the stairwell the others were right behind him.

Kid Flash quickly put a burst of speed knocking out any Genomorphs. Robin yelled out, "There's more behind us!"

Superboy growled and stomped down on the stairwell causing the stairs to collapse and stalling any further pursuit.

….

"We'll cut them off at sub-level one," Guardian said as his group were in the high speed express elevator.

"We'd better," Desmond snapped. "Or the board will have our heads, _my _head."

Without warning, he stopped the elevator and hurried out. "I need to get something at Project Blockbuster just in case, I'll meet you at sublevel one!"

Guardian narrowed his eyes and nodded.

….

Kid Flash arrived at sublevel one but the door that would lead them out was closed.

"Damn!" he said before he slammed into it.

"Nice try," Claw said. "But now we're cut off."

"I noticed," Kid Flash said. "Can't you go alien and smash through it?" he asked Claw as Aqualad and Superboy tried to open the door with their super strength but it was too thick.

Claw shook his head. "I have an alien but it's too dangerous." He was talking about an alien that somehow was a mixture of Kryptonian DNA and one of his dad's aliens. It had a split personality and was much stronger than the original, much quicker too.

"I can't hack it quickly enough," Robin said, he kicked open a glass door. "This way!"

The five ran through only for them to find themselves trapped between a waiting mob and their pursuers. They got ready to fight, Kid Flash, Superboy and Robin put their fists up, and Aqualad drew his water bearers whilst Claw got ready to change into an alien.

Just before they did so however, a massive telepathic assault overcame their minds and they fell to the ground unconscious, Claw and Superboy stayed up too weak to fight though. Claw growled, he was heavily resistant to telepathy and with his psychic AI's help, he began to fight off the influence.

_Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind. _Superboy felt something in his mind.

Superboy weakly opened his eyes to face Dubbilex. _It was you._

_Yes brother, _Dubbilex answered. _I started the fire and lured your new friends into Cadmus, woke them up when were in danger…_

_And guided me…? _Superboy finished. _Why?_

_Because you are our hope, the Genomorph hero,_ Dubbilex gestured to the other Genomorphs who seemed to stand, looking expectantly at Superboy. _You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing the way to Freedom._

Guardian shook his head as his G-Gnome hopped away. "What? What's going on?"

On the ground, the other heroes began to regain consciousness and get up. Aqualad looked nervously at the standoff whilst Claw mentally began to ponder

_What is your choice brother? _Dubbilex asked.

Superboy frowned and looked at the heroes. They'd been willing to die for him, to free him, he couldn't do anything less for them. But not as a guinea pig for Cadmus.

"I… choose… freedom," Superboy finally said.

Dubbilex gave a tiny nod and the other Genomorphs crowed their approval.

"Feels like a fog… lifting from my mind," Guardian whispered as he shook his head.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asked.

"We are safe right?" Kid Flash asked.

"Go," the hero responded. "I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not." The crowd of Genomorphs parted and Dr Desmond stood there with a sneer on his face. He lifted up a vial with a glowing blue substance. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power needed to restore order to Cadmus." He drank the contents of the vial.

The group watched in horror as the scientists fell to his knees and his skin began to become deformed, his muscles grew to the point where they bulged, his clothes ripped and his eyes turned blood red. Claw growled. Okay maybe he needed his alien. Desmond disappeared instead replaced by Blockbuster.

"Get back!" Guardian ran forward but was backhanded into a wall and fell unconscious.

Superboy jumped forward and managed to land a few hits, but Blockbuster was more than able to take and dish out the punishment. He was thrown away by several well-placed hits. Superboy growled and jumped up to hit him, but Blockbuster jumped and slammed into him straight through the ceiling.

"Ok," Robin said. "That's one way to bust through the ceiling." He fired his grappling hook.

"Think lab-coat planned that?" Kid Flash asked as Robin grabbed him and they went through the hole, Aqualad was right behind them.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," Claw said as he jumped up. "Time to go all out."

They found Superboy struggling in Blockbuster grip, the former scientist threw the clone at the heroes and turned to face them, he roared

A blue flash lit the area and in its place was large orange 10 foot creature with a blue and black hourglass symbol on its chest. It had two long claws on its knuckles. "Hulk smash!" Hulk leapt forward and slammed into Blockbuster, but Blockbuster was ready and it grabbed him and threw him away hard into the wall.

"Huh?!" Kid Flash yelled.

"That is a mixture of Kryptonian and one of Legion's aliens Rath," Robin replied as he fired several batarangs at Blockbuster. Superboy and Aqualad jumped forward to punch it. "It creates a split personality, one that is highly aggressive and is much more powerful than the original but it's hard to reason with. Legion, Mecha, Power Girl, Wonder Woman and Claw's girlfriend and family can calm it down. It took out half of the Justice League when it first came out and the angrier it gets, the stronger it gets, it's not weak to kryptonite and magic's effect is greatly lessened on it."

"Claw has a girlfriend!" Kid Flash turned to Robin. "Why did you not tell me these things?!" Robin rolled his eyes, he expected Kid Flash to say that. He motioned to the fight which Kid Flash nodded. Superboy and Aqualad punched Blockbuster, and he fell over Kid Flash who has dashed forward behind him.

"Learnt that one in Kindergarten," the speedster said smugly.

Blockbuster quickly recovered and he grabbed Superboy and slammed him into the wall. He punched him repeatedly before Aqualad came and tried to get rid of him. Blockbuster grabbed the solid water mace and threw Aqualad to the side before throwing Superboy into a pillar. Kid Flash tried to punch the monster but Blockbuster enhanced reflexes kicked in and he grabbed Kid Flash and threw him away into Aqualad.

Aqualad began to rub his eyes and Blockbuster slammed him through a pillar.

Robin had been waiting for a strategic weakness they could exploit realized that they didn't have to.

"KF! Get over here!" he yelled as he brought up a holo projector of the room they were in.

Superboy got to his feet and charge at Blockbuster but Hulk went for the monster and was hit away by Blockbuster using Aqualad as a bat into a pillar. Superboy was grabbed and Blockbuster began to punch him.

"Got it?" Robin said.

"Got it," Kid Flash quickly ran to the two fighters and jumped up to punch him with the remaining human skin sticking to his gloves.

"Got your nose!" Kid Flash yelled.

Enraged Blockbuster dropped Superboy and began to go after the yellow and clad teenager. Kid Flash used his speed to keep out of his reach.

"Superboy! Aqualad! Hulk!" Robin yelled, the three ran over to him with Hulk glaring down at him.

"Hulk strongest there is, what you want?" the hybrid growled.

"Come and get me, you Incredible Bulk!" taunted Kid Flash.

"Destroy them!" Robin motioned to the pillars and they leapt forward destroying the remaining pillars in the room. The three did so and Robin made an x in the centre of the room. Aqualad emptied his water bearers on the x and Hulk grabbed the monster and slammed it on the x. Aqualad electrocuted Blockbuster using the water, Hulk turned into Electron (Buzzshock) and joined Aqualad. Robin fired explosive batarangs exploding the ceiling. It was set in a way so the building would implode in on itself, right at the very centre where Blockbuster was.

Superboy, shielded Kid Flash, whilst Claw changed back into human form he was able to activate his temporary energy shielding and he shielded Robin and Aqualad. In seconds, the aboveground section of Cadmus disappeared.

Seconds, later the debris shifted with the young heroes breaking free. Robin and Kid Flash's costumes were torn in several places, Aqualad's suit was torn, and Superboy's solar suit was ripped whilst Claw's armour was destroyed in several places.

Claw looked around at the devastation and grinned. "We … did it."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Robin said jokingly. He high-fived Kid Flash but then they winced as their ribs cracked.

Superboy walked over to the unconscious form of Blockbuster, that life was over, being a test-tube. Now he was free.

"See?" Kid Flash said. "The moon." He pointed upwards and Superboy's attention was taken by the bright sphere. He let out a small smile which turned to awe when he saw what was in front of him flying towards them. A tall well-built man in a blue bodysuit, with red boots, a gold belt, a red cape; wearing a triangular shield on his chest with an S.

"Oh _and _Superman," Kid Flash continued. "Do we keep our promises or what?"

Superman wasn't alone as well, more figures arrived, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, Zatanna, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter and more. It seemed as though the entire League was here.

"I am so dead," Claw muttered as he saw Legion, Mecha and Power Girl giving him death stares.

"Tell me about it," Robin said. "Batman will murder me."

Superboy moved forward before anyone could stop him and stood in front of Superman. He lifted the front of his torn suit showing his S symbol. Superman's eyes widened then hardened leaving Superboy confused. Power Girl who was on the side looked on with sympathy.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked.

Kid Flash came up quickly. "He doesn't like being called an 'it'."

Superboy glared at the S symbol. "I'm Superman's clone!" The statement left the Leaguers shocked and stunned.

Batman glared at the group. "Start talking."

….

An hour later, after going through and obsessing over every tiny detail, the adult Leaguers were standing around talking amongst themselves discussing what to do with their protégés whilst Blockbuster was being carted off.

Superboy stood with the four teens and turned around and glared at Superman. Martian Manhunter caught the look and motioned to the clone. Superboy's expression turned slightly hopeful when Superman turned and began to talk to him.

"We'll eh, we'll figure something out for you," Superman said. "The League, will eh… I mean for now, I better sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away." He turned and flew off leaving an enraged Superboy. Power Girl saw this and began to walk over to him.

"Cadmus will be investigated," Batman said as he walked up with Flash, Aquaman and Legion. "All 52 levels, but let's get one thing clear."

"You should have called," Flash said butting in. Batman gave him a mild-glare then turned back.

"End results aside, we are _not_ happy," Batman continued. "You _hacked_ Justice League systems, _disobeyed_ orders and _endangered_ lives. You will _not _be doing this again."

"I am sorry," Aqualad said as the five gathered together. "But we will."

"Aqualad," Aquaman said. "Stand down."

"Apologies my king but no," came the firm response. Aquaman's eyes narrowed.

"We did good work here tonight," Aqualad continued. "The work you trained us to do. Together on or own, we forged something powerful, important."

"We need to rise out of your shadows," Claw said. "Show the world we're not hiding and let us be taken seriously for once."

"If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you-" Flash was cut off by his protégé.

"Five of us," Kid Flash said motioning to Superboy. "And it's not."

"We're ready to use what you taught us," Robin said. "Or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy was still unhappy. "It's simple, get on board or get out of the way." He said this and moved forward with the others and faced the Justice League ready to make good of Superboy's ultimatum.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Give me three days."

….

The five teens were taken home with Superboy going with Claw and being welcomed to their house, he was shown the sights of San Francisco and even helped out in the city's patrols. He decided on a superhero outfit and got some of his own clothes and accessories. A pair of strengthened combat boots, combat pants and a black t-shirt with a red S symbol. All of the clothes were incredibly tough could be easily replaced.

After three days, they were anxious to know their fate.

….

**Mount Justice 08:04 EDT**

Mount Justice was a hollowed out mountain in Rhode Island and it was actually a secret base for the Justice League, much of it rivalled the technology on the Watchtower.

The five teens in civilian garb watched at the various Leaguers moved around carrying in equipment and supplies before Batman began talking. Robin of course wore dark sunnies to help hide his identity.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary for the Justice League," Batman said. "We're calling it into service again, since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight. You'll do it on _League_ terms."

He motioned to a red robot with a blue cape and a beautiful slim blonde woman with blue eyes wearing a blue jacket, black one-piece outfit and fishnet stockings and combat boots. "Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and be your supervisor whilst Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin asked.

"Yes but covert," Batman responded.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Legion said.

"There's a reason we still have these big targets on our chest," Flash said motioning to his lightning symbol on his chest.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman interrupted. "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

Batman nodded. "The six of you will be that team."

"Cool," Robin said then he got confused. "Wait six?"

Batman nodded and pointed with his eyes behind them. They turned around to see another Martian, she looked to be female and looked to be an exact copy of a human female save for her green skin and she had red hair. She wore a red x-shaped harness on a white shirt, blue boots, a short blue cape, blue gloves and a blue skirt that ended just above her knees.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece," Batman said. "Miss Martian."

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Liking this gig even more and more," Kid Flash whispered to Robin before speaking at a normal volume. "Welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash, that's Robin, Aqualad, Claw – it's okay if you forget their names."

Miss Martian smiled though she had her hands clasped nervously. "I'm honoured to be included."

The boy's moved forward to say hello whilst Superboy stayed behind looking a little bit overwhelmed. Claw noticed, "Come on Supey! Say hi to Miss M!"

Superboy moved forward and when he did Miss Martian's shirt changed to black and her cape disappeared but she still had her x harness. "I like your t-shirt," she said meekly.

Superboy let out a little smile and Robin nudged him playfully while Kid Flash threw an arm around his shoulders.

Aqualad smiled. "_Today _is the day."

….

**Unknown location**

The hidden figures that controlled Cadmus weren't happy, with Guardian in charge paving away for a kindler gentler Cadmus, it had lost its usefulness especially with the weapon Superboy gone.

"Can the Light afford to leave Guardian in charge without the G-Gnomes?" one figure asked.

"We have subtle means of control," another one said.

"What concerns me," another member said. "Is the children, we now know the League is employing young heroes to do their dirty work… that's a dark twist."

"Yes," the group leader said thoughtfully. "But one that can be played to our advantage. Even the temporary loss of the weapon may prove useful, eventually… everyone sees the Light."


End file.
